Kilimanjaro Leadership Project 2013

From 22 September till 3 October, using the mountain as a classroom and as a metaphor for business, numerous women will experience leadership in ever-changing environments while climbing Kilimanjaro in the MBA elective course at RSM, RSM MBA Kilimanjaro Leadership Project. These women will need to work together and lead each other through difficult terrain to push past physical and mental barriers in their trek to the 5,895 meter summit. They will be led by Rebecca Stephens, the first British woman to climb Everest, and the highest mountain on every continent.

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To all who read these blogs and who care about us women, first: I owe my thanks. I am so grateful for all of the love, prayers and support we have received on this journey. Summiting Mt Kili was the most challenging physical feat of my life. Why even do it? As they say, the magic happens outside of your comfort zone, and something wonderful happened on this mountain top. Physically: my performance was at its peak, my foot, which had been badly sprained a few weeks before the trip, turned out to be a non-issue. We hiked first for…

When RSM asked me to join the Kilimanjaro climb I was enthusiastic straight away although I had never ever climbed a mountain before. It seemed to me an exciting new adventure and I do like adventures… However, after arranging the logistic details I got afraid and thought: what if my body can’t resist the height, what if my pace is the slowest of the group, what can I possibly do if somebody falls down, what is in the first aid kit and O gosh, I don’t have any experience in treating high altitude problems. Although I could see why RSM wanted…

Kilimanjaro is perhaps the hardest thing I have done until now. Fighting with my negative thoughts, exhaustion, suffocation, altitude effects and weakness; here self-belief and decision-making are key to go forward as well as encouraging and be encouraged with a “you can do it” or “we are almost there” by the Kili sisters and local guides. All the fight and effort were worth every single step made. I have walked next to the moon, the stars, the sun, the glacier palaces and I had the clouds underneath, with the rewarding reach of the three certified summits of Mt Kilimanjaro, including…

As I sit here writing this blog, I’ve just made the first version of my photo book from the Kili climb. Looking at the pictures and remembering the experience on the mountain, it has been such an amazing journey that I get itchy feet to start again, even though I said at the time I would not make a second climb. For me the high of the trip was the feeling of sharing and connection with this amazing group of woman as we made our way up. Of course I remember being sick, cold and tired, but these memories are fading…

I have climbed Kilimanjaro: it was a great experience and now it’s done, it’s over. No, it’s not. It is very far from being over. I got back 3 weeks ago and I’m still processing the whole experience. I have never learned as much in 7 days as I did on this journey. The Kilimanjaro learning curve has definitely been very steep. Its impact is extended to the present and I am convinced it will further be extended in the future. On my return I was warmly welcomed back by family and friends who just assumed that I had reached the summit and…

Self-confidence is important in life. But sometimes, when things are too difficult, self-confidence can go down. Guess what, you don’t always have to believe in yourself; “sometimes you’ve got to believe in someone else’s belief in you until your belief kicks in”, says Les Brown. And that’s how I ended up reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro! Ok, let’s rewind. When I was a child, I used to be the one crying for all sorts of reasons, fragile and sometimes emotionally sensitive. So my brother almost laughed when he heard that I had been selected for climb. But he is…

……….I can write a whole page but still it wouldn’t be sufficient to help you understand the sensation one experiences at an altitude of 4700-5700 where the air pressure is half the level it is at sea level and the climate is very unstable …. The lack of oxygen influences your body, it forces it to slow down … your mind is forced to take into consideration your body’s needs and limits…..Somehow you have to align your physical limits with your ambitious mind. You have to listen to your inner resources and find the peace and the balance between your wishes…

I will always remember the golden line of the horizon that I saw during summit night on Kilimanjaro. After five days of climbing, we finally reached the Kibo Hut, where we took a short rest and set out to strive for summiting. We departed at 11 pm with the plan to reach the Gilman’s Point (5600m) at dawn. It was the longest night of my life. The world was completely shut out as there was no light or noise. The only companions were the tiny sight of road lit up by my head torch, the extreme coldness, and the uncomfortable…

There are almost two weeks since I returned from what I call the most impressive experience I had in my life. I remember myself on the top of Kilimanjaro being very angry at myself and telling myself I will never do such a thing again. At that moment any reason for which I have chosen to climb the mountain was fading in comparison with the great risk I felt I was taking. Every piece of my body was hurting and I had to breath more than ten times to get a very little bit of oxygen. I was both cold…

Sometimes you plan to do something and you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. Like climbing a mountain with a group of women. Before travelling to Tanzania I had some important questions: why only women, how tough will it be, how can one week have such an impact etcetera? And now I am back home after a fantastic time in Tanzania and I have a general feeling of joy and relaxedness. I loved every bit of the journey. The aspect I loved most was not the magic of the mountain, not the multicolored sky, not the beautiful bizarreness…